Scottish Football Association president Campbell Ogilvie has revealed that no
one from his organisation will attempt to end the fallout between Scotland
manager Craig Levein and the country’s best striker, Steven Fletcher.

In and out: Steven Fletcher is in form for Sunderland but out of favour with ScotlandPhoto: AFP

He has scored all five of his club’s Premier League goals thus far (in only four appearances) but his name will not be included when Levein names his squad on Tuesday morning for the crucial World Cup qualifying matches in Wales and Belgium later this month.

The 25 year-old, who joined Sunderland from Wolves for £14 million during the summer (making him the most expensive Scot ever), has been estranged from Levein since he criticised the manager’s abject 4-6-0 formation in Prague two years ago this month.

Fletcher subsequently informed the SFA that he didn’t wish to be selected again but, in spite of subsequently recanting, Levein refuses to speak to the player, never mind select him.

It has been suggested that someone at the SFA could act as a go-between to effect a reconciliation between the pair but Ogilvie believes that any such move would undermine the manager’s authority.

“Obviously, there’s been a lot of speculation in the press about this but, really, for me, it’s the manager’s prerogative,” he said.

“The manager is employed to pick the players that he thinks should be in the squad and I don’t believe the board should be interfering in that process. Not at all.

“For me, from my involvement at club level when there has been speculation about boardroom involvement in team selection, I’m clear that it has to be down to the manager.”

Fletcher’s agent, Scott Fisher, claimed that there was an attempt to broker peace before a match in Liverpool 13 months ago but Levein did not attend the proposed summit.

“I don’t know: I wasn’t party to that meeting,” said Ogilvie. "As far as I’m concerned – and I’m aware of the media comments – the international manager is employed to pick the team he believes can do the job for him. That’s it.”

Levein will at least be able to welcome back his captain. Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher will return to the squad after recovering from a chronic bowel condition while Celtic captain Scott Brown has also indicated that he has sufficiently recovered from a summer hip operation to link up with him.

The dismal start to the group stage, on top of the failure to qualify for the European Championship, has ramped up the pressure on Levein but Ogilvie stressed that he still enjoys the confidence of his employers.

“Absolutely,” he said. “We’re two games into the campaign and there are still eight games to go so we’ve all got to get behind the manager and get behind the squad.

“Obviously, we’ve had two home games and we would have wanted more points from them if I’m being completely honest.

“When the draw came out it was apparent that this was one of the hardest sections – if not the hardest section – in the European sector.

“Any time Scotland has entered a qualifying section our aim has been to reach the finals. I’m not going to start speculating about ‘what if?’ scenarios after two matches.

“We’re totally behind the manager and the team going into the third game and we want to take this forward in a positive way with everyone pulling together.”